Hitachi J3H3

[comrade harps]

Hitachi J3H3b "Hermann"
T2-165, 204th Kokutai, East Rabual, 1 November 1943
Personal mount of Young Flyer 1st Class Shoichi Sugita


During the mid-1930s, Hitachi's founder Namihei Odaira had practically lost control of his engineering firm to Japanese military interests. Against his wishes, the company entered into military production, expanding its operations to the closed city of Pyongsong in occupied Korea in 1937. Founded in 1936, the Japanese ran a secret military-industrial program in Pyongsong with the aide of Nazi German investment, Krupp, Mauser, Daimler-Benz, Heinkel and several other companies taking advantage of Japanese military contracts, low taxes, low labour costs (including what was practically slave labour) and ensured secrecy. To establish Hitachi as an aviation manufacturer, they were teamed with Heinkel. The main product of this collaboration was the J3H, a land-based interceptor for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Based on the He-100, the J3H entered service in late 1941 and the final J3H6c rolled off the Pyongsong production line in August 1945, just a day before the Red Army occupied the plant. The Allied code-name for the J3H3 was Hermann.*




The J3H3b version featured detailed improvements, including more armour and more secure fuel tanks, a larger, more reliable and efficient ventral cooling unit, three 20mm cannon (one firing through the propeller hub and two in the wing roots) and a fixed tail wheel. It was a standard type with the 204th Kokutai on Bougainville in the second half of 1943 and was Japan's leading interceptor in the region. Lighter and faster than the identically powered Ki-61, it was Japan's fastest combat plane until late 1944.





During the course of the campaign to defend Rabaul, it became common to paint red the tail units of aircraft assigned to aces. This gaudy extravagance contrasted with the increasing application of camouflage to the defender's planes, which came to be gradually and inconsistently applied from June 1943. This plane, flown by ace Shoichi Sugita, wore a common-at-the-time scheme of a partial upper surface camouflage over a natural metal finish.

Shoichi Sugita scored his seventh confirmed victory on 1 November, 1943, a US Navy PV-1 Ventura that was patrolling west of Bougainville and covering for the invasion of that island that day. The next day he was credited with a further victory, a USAAF B-25 Mitchell that was on a bombing mission against Rabaul. Sugita would go on to campaign with 263 AG in the Caroline/Mariana Islands during March - July 1944, with 201 AG in the Philippines and (after returning to japan to recover from burns) finally the J8M2 Shusui rocket-powered interceptor in 1946. Amazing, he survived the war, but was grounded again in April 1946 due to severe injuries.





* The Herman was identified by the Allies before the generally similar Ki-61 Hein of the Imperial Japanese Army. As such, Allied personnel often confused the two (and it was originally thought the the Ki-61 was an IJA version of the J3H). When it became apparent that it was different, speculation that the Ki-61 was an Italian design saw it take the Italian sounding code name Tony. As the Allies were already aware of the J3H's German origins, it was named after the Luftwaffe's chief, Hermann Göring. The Ki-61, however, had no Italian input and was in fact based on a reverse-engineered Boeing P-34 airframe, Japan having acquired 2 of the 7 civilian examples of the P-34. Like the J3H, the Ki-61 was powered by an engine based on the German DB601, later version having a longer, more powerful Ha-40 engine and the Ki-100 was a Ki-61 converted to take a radial powerplant. Whereas the Ki-61 was wrongly given an Italian code name, the Ki-100 was named William (after William Boieng) in recognition of the type's American origins.

[Gondor]

Nice 

Gondor

[Old Wombat]

Another great build & another great backstory!



Guy

[NARSES2]

Superb  Love the camouflage scheme

[Dizzyfugu]

Nice.    The He 100 has something VERY japan-esque to it, very plausible build. Like the radiator mod, but I doubt that there would have been guns in the wing roots. There's the oil cooler, and the landing gear, and there would have been a synchro gearbox for the propeller necessary?

[comrade harps]

but I doubt that there would have been guns in the wing roots. There's the oil cooler, and the landing gear, and there would have been a synchro gearbox for the propeller necessary?

A ggod point, but I figure that if the Fw190 can have wing root 20mm cannon, that's a good enough real-world model to go by. If I had some suitable blister parts for the wings in my spars boxes, I'd add those. I must have another rummage.

[Captain Canada]

For sure diggin' the camo....and it looks pretty good with that engine !